Thread: Losing weight while gaining muscle

do you know what your bf% is?

i have one of those sharper image scales that calculates bf% and it show @ 24%

generally speaking you're going to have to decide which route you want to go (lean out or build muscle) in order to avoid simply spinning your wheels. there are a few exceptions:

#1 - new to weights + diet
#2 - new to heavy weights + diet
#3 - gear + diet

Originally Posted by The13ig13adWolf

generally speaking you're going to have to decide which route you want to go (lean out or build muscle) in order to avoid simply spinning your wheels. there are a few exceptions:

#1 - new to weights + diet
#2 - new to heavy weights + diet
#3 - gear + diet

Freaking parrot.

Just kidding.

Originally Posted by Thunder

Freaking parrot.

Just kidding.

if your legs weren't so big i'd kick your ass...

Ok - Those scale things are pretty inaccurate sometimes... So you could be as high as 30 or as low as 15....

How tall are you?

But to answer your question

Originally Posted by Rhinoman

I am a 39 year old male. I weigh 192lbs. (down 8 pounds in 1 month) I.m glad that Im losing the fat but I want to get stronger too. I'm loosing the fat around my belly with cardio (30 min ski machine 5 days a week) but I also want to gain muscle. I'm taking in about 2000 cal a day which is about 1000 less than I burn a day (130 g protein). I eat about every 3 to 4 hours.
My question is can I gain muscle while on my diet? If not, can I still lose the fat around my stomach if I kick up my calories to 3000 a day? Any advice is apprecitated. My main goal is to loose the fat.

On the diet you are on... Probably not an awful lot of muscle could be gained... Even if you are a noobie with a high BF% 2000 cals a day with only 130g of protein at a weight of 192 lb is not going to be doing an awful lot for your muscle mass.

You do not need to increase to 3000 cals but if you want to help your diet but still lose fat then I would increase cals up to about 2300... I would then increase protein up to at least 230g a day - this is what is going to be helping to preserve your muscles whilst you are dieting. Keep fats moderate and carbs moderate too..

What types of foods are you eating and when is also important - you want to make sure you are getting good pre and post workout nutrition and that you are getting enough fibre, vitamins, minerals and other healthy things...

If you type out what you eat and when (eg: meal 1: 0.5 cups of cereal, 1 cup skim milk etc etc) then we could take a look to see if it could be improved.


Also - If you want a great read on the basics go up to the top of the forum and look at the thread "Guide to..." It has a whole heap of information in there.

I am 5'10" tall. Here is a link to my diet journal.

http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/PublicJ...?Owner=shep642

My Daily Journal
No journal entry for today.

EDIT:...dude..your diet needs a serious overhaul...and you're barely eating anything...I freakin' eat more than you. There must be some stickies here that you can read on what constitutes clean eating...

Originally Posted by wild

EDIT:...dude..your diet needs a serious overhaul...and you're barely eating anything...I freakin' eat more than you. There must be some stickies here that you can read on what constitutes clean eating...

You eat pizza, cereal, ice cream, and cookies. Not hard to get your cals up that way.

Originally Posted by Thunder

You eat pizza, cereal, ice cream, and cookies. Not hard to get your cals up that way.

What's your point? It's not hard to get your cals up over 1700 eating clean either

Originally Posted by wild

What's your point? It's not hard to get your cals up over 1700 eating clean either

Not that you'd know.

Originally Posted by Thunder

Not that you'd know.

Nothing wrong w/ pizza and cookies

Originally Posted by wild

Nothing wrong w/ pizza and cookies

1240am - Im ordering pizza.

Already had the cookies.

Originally Posted by Thunder

1240am - Im ordering pizza.

Already had the cookies.

bwahahaha...who knew? ...it's so out of character for you

Originally Posted by wild

bwahahaha...who knew? ...it's so out of character for you

I'm so shredded.

Originally Posted by Thunder

I'm so shredded.

It's gotta be that food scale ...I gotta get me one of those

Originally Posted by Thunder

1240am - Im ordering pizza.

Already had the cookies.

i should have ordered a pizza....

Guys - You should all know better! If you want to spam up threads, go and post up in the general post forum. This person has asked for help on his diet and instead all he has received is a load of posts full of crap about pizza!!....



Rhinoman - looking at your diet you do need a bit of a change.

At 5'10 your weight is not too bad, athough with a BF% of above 20% you certainly do need to drop some fat.

This can still happen - but I would probably consider altering the foods you are eating and the ratio's at which you are eating them.

Do not worry about percentages of this or that - instead, look at your weight and what you need for your weight.

At 192 pounds, as I said, 2000 cals is probably too low. I would try to aim for something closer to ~2300 cals/day. From that I would get a good serve of protein - as your BF% is highish, you could aim for something around 1-1.25g per pound of your total body weight (~200-230g of protein) and that would be fine.. Then split that evenly into about 5-6 meals.

You want to look for lean sources such as lean meat, chicken breast, seafood, skim dairy, turkey breast, game meats, eggs and egg whites and similar things like that. So if you get ~5 meals a day this means you want about 40-45g of protein in a meal. If you eat 6 meals you want ~35g of protein in each meal.

Get a moderate amount of fat means something around 0.3-0.4g per pound, which is ~55-65g of fat for someone your size. This is enough to provide you with all the fats your body required for health. The sources should be things like avocado, olive oil, nuts/seeds and fatty fish. I would also supplement with 6-8 fish oil capsules a day to ensure you are getting your omega-3 fats. Try to limit saturated fats (a little is good for you - a lot is unhealthy) and also trans-fats (not very healthy at all).

Then fill the rest of your calorie requirements with healthy carbs. This means something around 220-230g.

The types of carbs you want are those rich in fibre, vitamins, minerals, water and phytochemicals. This is not only because they are better for you, but also because the fibre and water will help to fill you up so you stick to your diet better.

So things like fruits, vegetables, legumes (lentils, beans, chick-peas), whole grains (barley, rye, oats), starchy vegetables like yams.... etc....

Skim milk products are also excellent things to include in your diet, espeically around your workouts. They are great sources of protein and carbs and can be very effective in promoting muscle growth.


There is really no 'magic' solution to the issue - you will not gain lots of muscle when dieting, but you can help the situation.... It just comes down to training sensibly (hard, but smart) doing some cardio (as much as you need, but not excessive amounts as this will only hinder your progress in the long run) and make sure you get enough rest too!

Originally Posted by Emma-Leigh

Guys - You should all know better! If you want to spam up threads, go and post up in the general post forum. This person has asked for help on his diet and instead all he has received is a load of posts full of crap about pizza!!....

Naw....I've been helping via pm...it's all good

Thanks everyone.
All the information has been great. I'll revamp my diet immediately and I'll let you know how I'm doing.

One more question. I read that some people prefer to eat right before they lift and others eat right after. What do you think?

Originally Posted by Rhinoman

Thanks everyone.
All the information has been great. I'll revamp my diet immediately and I'll let you know how I'm doing.

One more question. I read that some people prefer to eat right before they lift and others eat right after. What do you think?

Both. Never should weight training be done fasted. Wait, do you mean RIGHT before you lift? Solid food will likely cause some GI upset if eaten too close to training, but if you're doing a protein/carb drink prior to lifting you can do that if you wanted. There've been at least two studies done on pre workout drinks. I prefer to eat a meal though.

At the very least, have a meal an hour before your training and have some highly digestable protein and carbs right after training.

Originally Posted by Rhinoman

Thanks everyone.
All the information has been great. I'll revamp my diet immediately and I'll let you know how I'm doing.

One more question. I read that some people prefer to eat right before they lift and others eat right after. What do you think?

As it was said - both.

Pre workout nutrition is very important - and it some suggest it is even MORE important than PWO as it is this which ensures you have glucose and amino acids in your blood while you train!!

Therefore, before training you can either eat a good solid meal (mostly carbs and protein) about 1 hr before training (low fat level - as it will slow digestion and prevent the absorption of the nutrients)... Or you can have a liquid carb/protein (no fat) meal about 30-45 minutes prior to training. These should be pretty easy to digest - as you want them to be hitting your blood stream when you hit the weights floor.

After training you also want to have some carbs and protein - and something that is fast digesting and promotes little insulin response too.. This will mainly be useful as it helps to blunt cortisol (stress hormone) and will stop any catabolism that is occuring... But it will also help to restore your musles glycogen and amino acid pools... And this means you can start the repair process sooner...

does anyone take a day off from your daily diet plan? How do you take into consideration birthday parties, dinners out with friends etc?

Originally Posted by Rhinoman

does anyone take a day off from your daily diet plan? How do you take into consideration birthday parties, dinners out with friends etc?

Never ever!

Birthday parties? Holiday celebrations? I never go to those things because they mess up my diet.